Not Exactly Overheard… Another Telco to offer their own Telco Cash

Just got word from a reliable source that a local Telco provider is working hard to come up with their own version of Telco Cash. Seems like the Telcos are hell bent on taking a big slice out of the remittance market and Person-to-Person (P2P) payments from the banks.

By process of elimination, you may know which Telco this is.

Cash, Money… what else? Currency? Coins? Moolah?

I wonder how they will call this new service?

Talk About Niche! A New Site for the “Southerners”!

I love it when I get directed to a new blog site that has so much to offer despite its narrow niche play.  My buddy Gary, who operates the Exchange.ph Sites (the links to which you can see in my Blogroll to the right), told me about Southbound.

It’s a “blogazine” (a term they so aptly coined, I suppose) that talks about anything and everything about the South.  South, in this relative case, would mean the locale south of Manila, Makati included (correct me if I am wrong, Guys of Southbound, since you categorized Makati as “Sana nasa South” ).  You can view it as your localized “Lonely Planet” guide.  Or, moreso, your “Lonely South of Manila” guide.

It’s a great resource site for those of you who are unfamiliar with the deep south (not the “deep south” that Adam Sandler was referring to in “Little Nicky”, of course).  If you are the type who goes for the hole-in-the-window restaurant variant or the not-so-famous-but-offers-great-food restos, then you this is the site for you to do your research before heading out past the toll gates of South Super Hi-way (I am gonna go try out Vibang’s one of these days….).

Keep it up, Guys!  Your site is a perfect example of “finding a place” in the scheme of things, and executing well!  May the aspiring bloggers and entreps out there who wish to make a living on the side (or better yet, full time) learn a thing or two from your worthwhile endeavor.

Cheers!

Overheard III: Fund Transfer between a Telco Cash and a Bank

 

Scene: Bank Branch somewhere in Metro Manila

 

Customer: Hi, I am a “Telco Cash” user and I would like to ask for assistance with how to enable the Telco Cash fund transfer to my Bank Account here and vice versa.

 

 

Bank CSA (Customer Service Assistant): Good morning, Sir. Ah… wait please.

 

 

Customer: Okay.

 

After a few minutes….

 

Bank CSA: Sir, I will refer you to our Customer Service Head regarding this query.

 

After a few minutes…

 

Customer: Hi, I am a Telco Cash user as well as a depositor in your branch. I saw in the newspapers and heard that I can now transfer my Telco Cash funds to my Bank Account and vice versa. I would like to know how I can do this.

 

 

Bank Customer Service Head: Good morning, Sir. I am very sorry, but I will not be able to help you on this one.

 

 

Customer: I don’t understand… your Bank and the Telco Cash came out with full spread ads on major newspapers for this new and, supposedly, convenient feature….

 

 

Bank Customer Service Head: I know, Sir. It’s a bit awkward on our part. I believe it’s best if you go to the nearest Business Center of your Telco Cash for the details on how to enable this feature.

 

 

Customer: Oh… Can I talk to your Branch Head? Maybe she knows about this.

 

 

Bank Customer Service Head: Wait a minute, Sir…

 

After a few minutes…

 

Bank Branch Head: Good morning, Sir. I was asked to help you out regarding the Telco Cash to Bank fund transfer. I am so sorry as well… We’ve heard of the news and sets of announcements about this new feature for Telco Cash users and our Bank’s account holders. However, We haven’t received any official communication or advice from within the Bank on how to handle the process.

 

 

Customer: Oh… So I really have to go to a Business Center of the Telco Cash to get the details on how this can be done?

 

 

Bank Branch Head: I am afraid so, Sir. Or better yet, you can call their Help Desk so as to save you the time and effort in making the trip to the Business Center of the Telco Cash.

 

 

Customer: I see…

 

 

Wealth of Information About Making Money Online at www.doshdosh.com

I profess that I am no expert when it comes to dispensing tips and sets of advice on how to build and establish one’s website traffic and generate a healthy and defensible “repeat business” via page views, clicks, and purchases, as well as how to craft strategies and programs on affiliate marketing, website monetization, etc. All my knowledge come from my relatively scant and fresh learnings based on actual experience as well as common sense.

Maki of Dosh Dosh has built a veritable treasure trove of information about how to do the above and more. Maki has painstakingly put together valuable materials for the consumption of every budding blogger or online entrepreneur who wish to tap the money-making opportunities available on the net. Heck, he can come out with a book on this!

I had the privilege of getting him to drop an appreciative comment when I linked him in a previous post about how to build and keep traffic for and within your website.

Maki, if you see this post, I am sure it’s okay with you to send you my occasional link to your site every now and then.
To those of you who accidentally or occasionally (hopefully, regularly) read Knightly News, I encourage you to subscribe to Dosh Dosh for insightful information. I have added Dosh Dosh to my blogroll (look at my sidebar at the right side of the screen).

Helpful Tips: Generating and Keeping Traffic in Your Site

If you happen to have a website for your business or your own blog, you might want to take look at the link below.

 

Here’s a flavor of what to expect…

 

Characteristics of an Ideal Defensible Traffic Source

 

Let’s start first with a general idea of the type of defensible traffic you should be building. While the following points are ideal conceptualizations, they may help you to assess the value of your referral traffic sources.

 

The traffic source you are developing should:

• Promote your brand.
• Reinforce or build the existing community around your site
• Send targeted traffic (interested visitors)
• Work on both a long and short term basis.
• Connect your website with a broad audience
• Sustain itself over time, without requiring consistent active effort.
• Complement your overall site monetization strategy

You can get all the 10 Tips here.

Further, the site, www.doshdosh.com, gives you plenty of helpful and valuable tips on “helping you make money online”.

I learned a lot already.  It’s your turn.

 

Ordering Food thru an Internet Cafe

Hmmm… Interesting idea from Greenwich and Netopia.

While walking along a commercial center in San Juan, I saw a poster displayed at a Greenwich store that was promoting this this new “delivery channel”:

ORDER GREENWICH PIZZA AT NETOPIA

Too bad I was in a hurry and I didn’t have a camera with me.

Not a bad idea though.

The people in Greenwich found a creative way of tapping this market segment for online ordering and food deliveries —-> people who spend a considerable amount of their time at internet cafes to go online (obviously, these are the same people who don’t have any PC and/or internet connectivity at home). Netopia, considered the largest chain of internet cafes in the Philippines, with 150 branches nationwide (and targeting a total of 500 branches by 2008), is the best choice among existing internet cafe operators in the country.

What an Equation!!!

The equation: 1 Employee + 1 Part-time Employee = Million $ Revenues.

Yep. Believe it.

I couldn’t get the permalink to work so I decided to lift the whole article from www.smallbizlabs.com:

WSJ on PlentyOfFish – 1 Employee, Millions in Revenue

The Wall Street Journal (subscription required, but this article is in the free section) has an article on the free web dating site PlentyOfFish.  Online dating sites are very popular, with  the leading sites doing heavy web and TV advertising and charging subscription fees.  PlentyOfFish is a free site, supported by ads.  The article says that PlentyOfFish has one full time employee/owner, one part-time employee, and generates between $5-10 million in revenue per year. 

According to the article, PlentyOfFish is able to do this because web software has become simple enough for a single person to manage, and there is a robust 3rd party ecosystem of larger companies providing a broad array of services to support small web and ecommerce sites.  The article points specifically to Google, which evidently is PlentyOfFish’s primary source of revenue.

Two major trends, both of which are discussed in the article, are providing the opportunity for small and personal web sites to create multi-million dollar businesses.  The first is the growing ease and simplicity of the tools required to build and support relatively complex web and ecommerce sites.  The second is the growth of 3rd party platform companies that help and assist small businesses.  PlentyOfFish is a great example of these two trends coming together and creating interesting – and profitable – small business opportunities.

 

My Initial List of Helpful Services for the Entrepreneur

Everyone now has relatively easy access to connectivity. Most popular, of course, are connectivity through SMS and the Internet.

For anyone who has a business and who are thinking of putting up one, I suggest getting acquainted with the following easy-to-use services to get yourself up and running.

1. Google Applications:
   • When I say Google Applications, I mean the whole lot of it. Registering a Gmail account is the first step. A Gmail account is the passport to use all of the services and applications that Google offers for FREE! Yep, perfect for those with tight budgets or NO budget at all. A Gmail account immediately gives you at least 2 Gigabytes of space and allows you to send up to 20 Mb-sized attachments. Easy-to-use interfaces with conversation-based email trail which allows you to follow the thread of a topic or subject quite conveniently. It also has a built-in chat feature. But no conference chats for now.

Google Checkout Challenge to PayPal?

It’s in the news recently.  eBay decided to pull out its advertising from Google’s AdNetworks… Hmmm…  A new alternative for internet payments…

How this plays out will be very interesting, indeed.

“Loaded” State

I am really amazed at how people (Filipinos most especially) find ways to get by. Always ready to play the hand they get.

The “Tingi” System (or Per Piece System) thrives in a country like the Philippines because products compete for “pocket share”. Or, a share for every P1.00 budget.

Every peso counts, and for every such peso, certain percentage assignments go to buying food, toiletry needs, cigarettes, etc, etc, and, of course, prepaid mobile phone load.

I once heard the story about the meeting between Smart’s President, Napoleon Nazareno, and Microsoft Chairman, Bill Gates, when the former went to Redmond some years back. Fascinated by Smart’s success (and profitability) in offering P1.00 per SMS message, Bill Gates asked Mr. Nazareno how they did it? The answer… “Sachet Marketing”. Gates paused… stared right at Nazareno, then slowly tapped his fingers on the table while repeating the two words… “Sachet Marketing?” … “Sachet Marketing…” “Hmmm…”

You can bet that Bill Gates’s mind was churning up ideas at that moment.